Trump again snubs spy chief Tulsi Gabbard's take on Iran's nuclear programme, says ‘she is wrong’

US President Donald Trump said that the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was “wrong” when she earlier stated said that the US believed Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon, whereas he suggested that it would be “very hard to stop” Israel's strikes on Iran in order to work out a possible ceasefire, according to AP.

He bluntly said, “She's wrong.” Trump echoed remarks made by Gabbard when speaking to reporters on Tuesday. “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it," he had said.

What did Tulsi Gabbard say?

While testifying to Congress in March that the US intelligence community continued to believe that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon, Tulsi said, “The (intelligence community) continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.”

She took to X on Friday and clarified, “America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree.” She added her testimony was taken "out of context in a way to manufacture division”.

Tulsi in March called Iran's enriched uranium stockpile as unprecedented for a state without such weapons and mentioned the government was monitoring the situation closely. She also specified that Iran had begun conversing about nuclear weapons in public, “emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran's decision-making apparatus.”

The assessment presented by Gabbard has not altered, Reuters reported citing a source with access to US intelligence reports. US spy services also assessed that it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could strike a target of its choice.

Some experts, however, argue that Iran could produce and deliver a crude, untested nuclear device in a much shorter timeframe, though its effectiveness would be uncertain.

Trump has often dismissed the conclusions of US intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters have accused, without offering evidence, of being part of a "deep state" conspiracy of officials working against his presidency.

During his first term, he frequently clashed with US intelligence agencies, notably over their judgement that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election to benefit him, as well as his willingness to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials of involvement.

The White House stated that Trump would decide involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict over the next two weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended a week of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, claiming that Tehran was close to acquiring a nuclear warhead. Iran, however, denies pursuing nuclear weapons, insisting that its uranium enrichment programme is intended solely for peaceful purposes.

(With inputs from Reuters and AP)